luke is three!

Luke Elliott.  You are three years old!!

You are the sweetest little boy, buddy.  You weigh 30 pounds and you're 39 inches tall.  You have the best smile and you still have a toddler belly.

You are still shy and introverted.  You are compliant and calm.  You are sensitive and affectionate.  You talk all the time and love to tell us stories and ask a zillion questions every ten minutes and sing at the top of your lungs.  You love to dance and even though you do it all the time, it still makes me laugh.

You've had a crazy year.  In the last 10 months you've become a big brother, potty trained, moved, moved again, started sleeping in a big boy bed, and started sleeping without your paci.  You're doing great little man.

You go to "school" twice a week and you absolutely love school.  You know the days of the week and know that Tuesdays and Thursdays are school days.

You love your daddy.  You love your Honey.  (You still call her "A-ha."  Will that stick?)  You love fruit and pizza and almond milk.  You love fire trucks.  You love Annie.   (You still call her "EE."  Will that stick?)

You're a great big brother.  You love to "play with EE" and help me feed EE and crawl into bed with EE every morning.  

Since we took the paci away, you've had a hard time falling asleep.  But you still sleep well every night and take a 2-3 hour nap every afternoon.

You wear an AFO during the day and it doesn't seem to bother you a bit.  You run, jump, skip, climb, swing and slide with your friends.

Every time someone is leaving the house, you make them "beep beep."  You insist that they honk the horn on the car as they drive away.  It's sweet, and a little quirky.

You love to play "fire station" and cars and "haircut" and trains and tractors.  Somehow you ended up with a baby doll and you like to play with her some, too.  You throw her or your stuffed animals up on high places and then drag the step ladder around (making a siren noise, as if you were a fire truck) and set it up and "rescue" your baby or your animals.  You do not care much for painting or coloring.  You love to read books, as long as they are about firetrucks or trains or tractors.

We are so proud of you, buddy.  You are so wonderful and so much fun.  Happy third birthday sweet boy.

annie elise: 9 months

Annie girl!  Happy nine months to you!

There is something so precious about the way you look at me, oh sweet daughter of mine.  And when I look back at you I am filled with joy.

You are adorable.  You are happy and content and curious and easily excited.
Your whole face lights up when you see your brother.  You are pretty attached to me.

You have just started crawling on all-fours yesterday and today, though you've been scooting on your belly for several weeks.  You still don't go far, only a few feet at a time, and you're frustrated that you can't go further.

You babble and talk occasionally and make sounds like da-da, ma-ma, and ga-ga.  You love peek-a-boo and bath time and the knobs on the kitchen cabinets.  You reach for everything, and this makes you hard to hold sometimes.  You hate to get dressed.

You are a good eater and you love just about everything.  You can take down an entire grilled cheese sandwich, you love the grilled nuggets from Chick-fil-A, and you drink well from a sippy cup.  You are still breast feeding, too.

You are a great sleeper.  You go down at 7, wake up between 7 and 8, and take 2 good naps almost every day.

If all this is making you sound like a pretty perfect baby, it's because you are.  Your daddy says he'd have ten more if we could guarantee they'd be just like you.  ;)

I'm not sure how much you weigh, but you seem to be growing just fine.  I think you have your daddy's long legs because all your pants are too short.  Your hair sticks straight up!  You crinkle your nose when you laugh.  You have 3 bottom teeth.  You are beautiful.

We love you like crazy and can't picture our lives without your crinkle-nosed grin.

the paci man

Luke's almost three and was still going to sleep with a paci for every nap and every night.
Judge now.  Go ahead.  I can take it.

We thought about getting rid of the thing before AE was born, but it just didn't feel like good timing.  I really felt like he still needed good naps and solid bed times, and I knew that if I took the paci away we wouldn't have either.

But a few weeks ago, when discussing it again, we decided he was ready.  He's more flexible and more easy-going now than he was a year ago.  And we thought he could handle it.

So last Friday we sat him down and told him he'd gotten to be such a big boy and that it was going to be a very special day.  We explained that the paci man was going to come and take his pacis to babies and bring him something in return.  He was all in.

He packed up his pacis and put them in a bag.  We walked to the mail box and put the bag inside and then came in.

He ate lunch with eager anticipation.  He asked about one hundred times if the paci man had come yet.  And over and over again he would say, "I don't know I can do it."  It was so sweet.

When lunch was over, we walked out to the mail box as a family.  Luke took his ladder so he could open the mailbox himself.

The paci man left Luke a note with his gift.  And when we got back inside we read it to him.

Inside the box was a monkey we've since named Coconut.

I would have never dreamed this transition would go so well.   He fell asleep at that first nap without a fuss, but only slept for 30 minutes.  I laid back down with him and he slept off and on for another hour or so.  When he woke up we got to celebrate with a cupcake.

And true to his introverted self, he has not mentioned his paci since that day.  I know he still thinks about it, and I know he's not sleeping quite as well without it, especially at nap time.  But I am so thankful to have this behind us.  And so thankful that he did so well.

country livin'

When you live in the country you can burn things.  Or, at least, you can watch your daddy burn things.

You can sit in your wagon, bundled in your jacket, soaking up the sounds and smells of country life.

You can delight in the fresh air, watch the dog run, and look for deer.

And you can do it all without your pants on.

it's january!

Major blogging fail.  I'm so behind.  But to think about going back and documenting every major event between November and now feels overwhelming.  So a brief recap, then we're starting anew.

We moved into our house mid-December and got just enough unpacked and just enough settled in to enjoy every single moment of Christmas and New Year's.  We had a lovely holiday with lots of time as a family and lots of time with our families and that was the best part about it.

The second best part was the magic of Christmas through the eyes of an almost-three-year-old.
He was so much fun this year.  I'm so disappointed I didn't capture more of this  magic in photos, but I just didn't.  I was too busy living in the moment (right where I should be!) and loving each moment that I really didn't take blog-worthy photos.  But.  It was awesome.

These days, we're still getting settled in and we are loving our new house.  There is still much to be done but we're getting to do it together and we love that.

We celebrated my 30th birthday last week (wow!) with two girl's nights (what!?), a date night, a sushi night, a kid-free lunch, and a family night.  It was the party that never ended.  And it was so fun.

Happy birthday to me!  I'm actually super excited about being thirty and really looking forward to this next decade of my life.  I mean, seriously.  It just doesn't get any better than this.

Or this.

Sorry for the lack of posts.  I'm back, I think.  ;)  And I'm looking forward to 2014! 

annie elise: six months

This post is a little late (see below) but I wanted to get it in before she got any older!

Annie girl, you are six months old!

You are on the small side, coming in the 20th percentile for weight (just under 15 pounds) and the 25th percentile for length.  You are breast fed all day and then get one bottle of formula before bed.  You are just now trying baby foods, and for the most part you are not a real big fan.

You are a happy baby, but you want to be held all the time.  All the time.
As long as your'e on my hip, you don't make a peep unless it is to shriek with delight at your brother or at the sight of Daisy.

You love attention, toys with lights and music, to be outside, and your jumperoo.
You still don't love car rides, but this is getting so much better and as long as you've got a toy, you're content for short drives.

You have two bottom teeth and you put everything straight into your mouth.
Your hair is coming back.  It is light brown and sticks straight up!

You sleep from about 7:30 at night until 6:00 in the morning, then you may or may not go back down for a few hours.  You love your crib and you will talk and coo and roll around until you fall asleep.  You take 2-3 naps a day, depending on how long you sleep at each one.

You sit up with assistance, but would prefer to stand.  You're rolling all around and you want to scoot but you're still trying to figure that one out.

You've got an opinion and your Honey thinks you are going to rule the roost. 
She's probably right.

You are adorable and precious and sweet and happy and we love you so very much.

helloooooo (calling from a crazy season)

It's crazy up in here.  Don't even know where to begin.

I've been meaning to post this picture of my adorable kiddos on Halloween.

Luke was a fireman (what else?) and Annie was his dalmatian.  We went to a fall festival at a local church and had a blast.  Luke's favorite part was the candy (what else?) and the Cheetos he got to eat at the festival (he was like, what?! these are awesome!).  Little man was in total heaven.  Annie?  Oh she was just along for the ride, as usual!

Speaking of being along for the ride.  This next picture (from August) pretty much sums up where we've been the last few months.

See that mess behind us?  That's the slab for our new house being poured.  See me?  Holding a newborn?  See him?  Holding a toddler?  We are exhausted.  And excited.  And busy.  And so excited.

We put our house on the market.  That's no easy task, let me tell you.  It sold in 2 days for over asking price.  We pulled our jaws up off the floor and started packing up, while in the meantime Adam is working his normal job and building our new home which is a full time job in itself.  We put most of our belongings in storage.  That's fun.  And moved in with my in-laws because the new house won't be ready for several more weeks.  That's fun, too.  (No, really, they are great.  And we are super thankful for their hospitality.)  And that's where we are now.

All joking aside, this is a dream come true.  Adam has always always always wanted to do this.  And we are so thankful for the opportunity.  We've chosen everything.  Everything.  This place is completely custom.  From the floor plan to the door hinges, we're doing it all.  There is lots of blood, sweat, and tears (literally, blood, sweat, and tears) being poured into this place.  And we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  It's going to be amazing.

We hope to be in by Christmas.  But we've got lots of work to do and not too much time to do it.  I had someone tell me that if your marriage can survive building a house, it can survive anything.  I believe it.  This is not easy.  Being in a state of chaotic transition with two kids and a dog and a job and the holidays is tough.  But we're keeping our heads up and looking forward to the end reward.

More pictures to come!